A Toronto police officer has been sentenced to 45 days in jail and suspended from the force without pay for assaulting a protester during the G20 Summit.

Const. Babak Andalib-Goortani, 33, was found guilty in September of assault with a weapon for beating Adam Nobody, a G20 protester, on the lawn outside Queen’s Park.

Andalib-Goortani had pleaded not guilty to the assault charge and plans to appeal Monday’s decision.

A YouTube video of the violent arrest, shot on June 26, 2010, became a crucial piece of evidence in the three-year trial. The video shows multiple officers punching, kneeing and pinning Nobody to the ground as Andalib-Goortani delivers multiple blows with his baton.

Dressed in a simple grey suit, Andalib-Goortani appeared nervous, rocking in his seat as Justice Louise Botham read her ruling Monday in a Brampton courtroom.

A small group of supporters, including his father, sat in the packed gallery behind him.

“Police officers also need to understand that use of force on citizens will be scrutinized,” Botham said. “Any sentence therefore must send a message to police that they are not above the law.”

The judge considered the harm done to Nobody and “society at large” in her ruling, she said. In the end, she decided that 45 days in jail was the only appropriate penalty.

“Citizens will respect the rule of law when they can be confident that those with the power to enforce the law do so fairly,” she said. “When that power is abused, citizens need to know that the police will be held accountable.”

It was a video of the arrest shot by John Bridge, an innocent bystander who later testified in court, that made the trial at all possible, the judge said.

“Had it not been for Mr. Bridge’s videotape of the defendant and his decision to release that recording to the public, one wonders whether there would have been any ability to prosecute this matter at all,” Botham said.

Immediately after the sentence was read, Andalib-Goortani stood up, looked to his supporters and audibly sighed. He was then taken into police custody and escorted out of the courtroom through a side door.

Andalib-Goortani was later released from custody on $7,500 bail pending appeal, put up by his father who is acting as surety. Rules of the bail decision stipulate that he must reside with his father, not make contact with Nobody, and is banned from possessing a firearm or other weapons.

On the sidewalk outside the Brampton courthouse Nobody told reporters he was surprised by the judge’s decision.

“I’m glad that he’s getting jail time and that the judge saw the truth,” Nobody said.

“This system often works in the favour of police officers,” he said. “It’s just good to know that something like this can happen and it restores a bit of faith in the system for all of us.”

Andalib-Goortani’s lawyer, Harry Black, would not comment aside from saying the decision will be appealed. “Our comments will be made in the Court of Appeal,” Black said.

Earlier in the day, Black said the “media storm” around the trial was sufficient punishment for his client, who has suffered from depression, anxiety and nightmares since October 2010. He added that Andalib-Goortani’s marriage fell apart just two weeks after he was charged with assault.

“Absolute discharge is the only appropriate penalty,” Black told the court Monday morning. “He is not in need of probation. He is in need of counselling.”

It has yet to be decided whether the officer will lose his job. Once the appeal process finishes, Andalib-Goortani will face a police tribunal — an internal police hearing that uses the Police Service Act as a guideline to determine an appropriate consequence.

“No Police Service Act procedures can take place until his criminal process is finished,” Pugash said.

The police tribunal acts as a police trial of sorts; a hearing officer, usually a police superintendent, acts a judge. It is their job to consider all the facts and evidence before ruling on a penalty.

Pugash would not say what would constitute a fitting penalty for an officer sentenced to jail.

“The maximum penalty is loss of job, but I’m not going to speculate,” he said.

Earlier in the trial, Andalib-Goortani testified that he hit Nobody with his baton because that is how he was taught to respond when a person resisted arrest. Nobody consistently denied that he resisted arrest.

At issue in the trial was not whether or not Nobody had been lawfully arrested but whether the use of force was excessive.